From
July 9th to 14th Shihan Stuart Corrigal and
myself had the amazing opportunity to attend the 40th
anniversary of the European Summer School in the Netherlands. The
week long camp hosted by Shihan Loek Hollander was attended by some
230 individuals and was held at Papendal, the National Olympic
training Centre for the Netherlands. Instructors from all over
Europe attended including Shihan Antonio Pinero of Spain, Shihan
Andre Drewniak of Poland, Shihan Peter Voogt of Holland, Shihan
Tsutomi Wakiuchi of Italy, Shihan Egberth Thomas of Holland and
Shihan Jan Vleesenbeek also of Holand. Shihan Corrigal and myself
were each put on a team of instructors and both spent the majority
of the week instructing various classes of all levels.
The
European Summer camp has quite a busy schedule with up to five
classes a day, and by the end of the week all participants had had
their fill of hard training. One session that I found to be
particularly interesting was the “sweat dome”. All participants were
required to enter a dome where people usually play tennis. Once
everyone was in the dome the doors were closed and the heat was
turned up, at this point in time power training began. As expected
it didn’t take long for the temperature to rise in the dome and soon
after we began people noticeably started to “steam”. With no water
breaks it truly tested the spirit of all involved. I later learned
that this was the coolest year it had every been in the dome and
that usually the temperature rises above 55 degrees Celsius causing
a large number of individuals to pass out. Yikes…..I guess we were
lucky.
As in
Canada, testing for Dan grades is offered at the camp. One
immediately begins to understand and appreciates the size of the
European organization when observing the number of individuals
grading at this camp. There were eight individuals testing for
Yondan alone.
For
myself, the week was one of my most memorable since I began
training. I feel very fortunate to be a part of this organization
and always love making new friends and meeting the people throughout
the world that are involved in Kyokushin Karate. A heart filled
thank you to Shihan Hollander and his team who made this trip such a
wonderful experience. I would also like to thank Shihan Corrigal and
the IKOK-C for making such wonderful opportunities a possibility. I
look forward to seeing you all again next year.
OSU
Photo Gallery
